The Iranian people are really enjoying the Netflix show House of Cards right now. Yesterday, the New Yorker reported that the first season of the show has aired on state-run TV, despite bans on virtually all American cultural products. But it got me thinking: Does Netflix have a licensing deal in Iran or is the…

Demolitions crews in Albuquerque, New Mexico just discovered a time capsule from 1968 near a former elementary school. And based on the messages discovered inside, some kids of the late 1960s had a pretty creepy vision for the future. Or, perhaps, a creepy vision of their present.

Augusto Pinochet was a ruthless dictator who, with the CIA’s help, overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile in 1973. But what did the CIA really think of Pinochet? Newly released biographic reports use words like “warm,” “mild-mannered,” and “businesslike.”

When museum curators cracked open two time capsule drums in Dallas last week they didn’t know exactly what to expect. What they found were some amazingly well preserved pieces of World War II history—bombing technology that helped defeat the Nazis.

This bicycle, designed by Benjamin Bowden, was included in the “Britain Can Make It Better” exhibition of 1946. Known simply as the Classic (and later the Spacelander), Bowden’s initial design for the bicycle included a motor that gave riders a little extra oomph while traveling uphill.

When our family visited Disney World in the 1990s, my parents always insisted that we visit the Hall of Presidents for a little “education” on our vacation. The attraction is a stage show with audio-animatronic presidents, and every time this great country of ours gets a new president, the show gets a new robot. Well,…

The Chandler family spent over a century helping to build Los Angeles with the town’s newspaper of record, the LA Times. The paper was kept in the family from 1882 until 2000, with Norman Chandler at the helm during World War II. But newly released FBI files show that Norman may have had some particularly nasty…

Guy Sims Fitch had a lot to say about the world economy in the 1950s and 60s. He wrote articles in newspapers around the globe as an authoritative voice on economic issues during the Cold War. Fitch was a big believer in private American investment and advocated for it as a liberating force internationally. But no…

Paul Soros, shipping innovator and the older brother of Democratic mega-donor and businessman George Soros, died in 2013. Paul (originally Paul Schwartz before the family changed their name in the 1930s as the Nazis swept Europe) fled Hungary in 1948 and came to the United States on a one-year student visa. And…

Before Walt Disney’s Epcot was a theme park, it was supposed to be an actual city. With actual humans inside of it around the clock. After Walt died in 1966, the plans for Florida slowly changed. But in a newly uncovered proposal for the park’s computer and communications system in 1968, we can see what might have…

It’s been ten years since the dystopian comedy Idiocracycame out. And to celebrate, there will be screenings at Alamo Drafthouse theaters all around the country. Director Mike Judge and actress Maya Rudolph will even be hosting a special screening and Q&A in Los Angeles on October 4th. But if you can’t make it, don’t…

Researchers in Poland have uncovered a time capsule, dating from 1934. But this isn’t some ordinary time capsule with the run of the mill items you might expect. Sure, it has newspapers, coins, and books—common items for any time capsule. But these items were buried by Nazis. The books inside? Two copies of Hitler’s …

Janet Knox’s Baton Rouge home is now just a shell of its former self. The recent floods in Louisiana have forced her to tear out the waterlogged walls of her house and begin the rebuilding process. But Knox has had at least one pleasant surprise during the clean up. She found a time capsule dating back to 1942 stuffed…

Virtual reality has been the promise of the future for generations. And it keeps getting better with each passing year. But I remain skeptical that it’s going to become mainstream anytime soon. And it seems like I’m not alone. Apple CEO Tim Cook did an interview this morning on Good Morning America where he said that…

Do you remember Myst? That mysterious 3D computer game from the 1990s where you walked around solving puzzles? Well, believe it or not, the folks over at Disney were in talks with the creators of Myst to turn it into a theme park down in Florida. No joke.

Ever since NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain underground facility became fully operational in 1966, it’s been America’s command and control center for the nuclear apocalypse. But photos from inside the top secret bunker, even historical ones, are incredibly rare. Yesterday the folks over at Memory Hole 2 helped make them a…

Christie’s is hosting an auction of President Ronald Reagan’s personal items later this month online from September 19-28th. And there are some genuinely interesting pieces of history for sale. And some rather goofy ones. On the serious side, take this piece of the Berlin Wall, signed by President Reagan himself.

This week the city of Dana Point, California opened up a time capsule that the community sealed back in 1966. The metal tube, safely tucked inside a boulder in 1968, contained a lot of things you’d expect in your average 20th century capsule—like photos and newspapers. But the most interesting thing inside might be…

Do you hate going to the dentist? Well, you really would’ve hated going to the dentist 100 years ago. I can already see the smoke rising from my mouth as a dry drill bores away at my molars. I probably would’ve taken rotting teeth, thank you very much.

In November of 1975, Australia faced one of the most uncertain periods in its political history. The Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, was unexpectedly dismissed (which is to say fired) by a man named John Kerr, the Governor-General of Australia. Rumors have swirled for years about whether the CIA or British intelligence…